Week 8 Game Notes

Giants over Dolphins

• It looked for so long that the Dolphins were going to get their first win of the season—even Reggie Bush was having a good day—but it wasn’t meant to be.
• This is the last sure win for Big Blue as the Giants’ schedule gets insanely difficult in the second half.  They travel to New England Sunday and have a road game against San Francisco the next week, then games against the Eagles, Saints, Packers, Redskins, Jets, and two against the Cowboys still remain.
• Prediction (you decide if it’s bold or not): the Giants will not win the NFC East.

Ravens over Cardinals

• Another upset was brewing in this one, but again the favored team came back to win.
• This marks the fifth time a team has come back from twenty or more points down to win, already an NFL record.

Rams over Saints

• We saw Adam’s fears come to fruition in this Saints contest.  Drew Brees threw multiple interceptions, and the defense could not contain Steven Jackson in the least.
• The bigger problem for New Orleans this game was its protection.  The Rams sacked Brees six times on the day and hurried countless other throws.

Texans over Jaguars

• Win or lose, I find nothing the Jaguars do even remotely interesting.
• Texans win.

Vikings over Panthers

• If Olindo Mare hadn’t missed a 31-yard, game-tying field goal with 26 seconds left, we may be looking at a completely different result.  Instead the Vikings win by 3 in a game with some electric plays by Adrian Peterson and both rookie quarterbacks, Cam Newton and Christian Ponder.
• Peterson joins Jim Brown, Emmitt Smith, and LaDanian Tomlinson as the only running backs to rush for at least 750 yards and 8 touchdowns in each of their first five seasons.

Titans over Colts

• A team that previously had a streak of nine-straight 10-win seasons, the Colts have to win a game some time, right?

Lions over Broncos

• The Lions love the AFC West.  After hanging 48 points on the Chiefs Week 2, Detroit put up 45 on Denver.

Bills over Redskins

• Boy, we love John Beck.
• So do the Bills.  They love sacking him that is.  Buffalo totaled nine sacks on the day, two and a half coming from third overall pick Marcell Dareus.

Steelers over Patriots

• If New England strolls through their relatively easy second half and makes the playoffs, don’t expect them to make a lot of noise.  Their pass defense will not hold up at all, as Ben Roethlisberger made explicit on Sunday.

49ers over Browns

• Running game and defense; 49ers win.

Bengals over Seahawks

• I’m tellin’ ya, I love the Andy Dalton-to-AJ Green combo.
• For as much as the NFL star machine cranks out Cam Newton and Tim Tebow coverage, I’m a little disappointed Dalton hasn’t been getting as much publicity.  He’s an adequate NFL starter, and that’s a tremendous accomplishment for a rookie quarterback.  Sam Bradford was adequate last year, and we never heard the end of him.
• The Cincinnati Bengals win their fourth in a row.  (That’s weird to type.)

Eagles over Cowboys

• There’s the dream team.  After a panic-ridden 1-4 start, Philadelphia’s won two in a row and is right back on track.
• Aside from divisional contests at New York and at Dallas, the Eagles’ toughest remaining games (Bears, Patriots, Jets) all take place in Philadelphia.  They also have Arizona, Seattle, and Miami still on the docket.
• For as much doom and gloom there was after Week 5, the Eagles are probably still the favorite to win the division.

Chiefs over Chargers

• It took an extra period, but the surging Chiefs have now won four in a row.

--from @jeuneski